By: Kathryn Eftink
Non-Perfusionists typically don’t think much about the heart. When they do, they think of love. They think of a cartoon heart. I’m not a perfusionist, so I can confirm.
But perfusionists, they think of more. Circulation. Oxygen. Blood. And then you have Diane. Diane thinks of both. She’s a perfusionist, and thanks to Connect Perfusion, she loves her job.
Diane Selby moved to Memphis from Arkansas to work at Connect Perfusion in the early 2000s, and she’s been with the company ever since. And within those years, she has never experienced a day like another.
“Every day is a new challenge,” Diane says.
Her job is challenging. She has different patients who have different needs. She has to stay on her toes and focus. If it’s open heart surgery, you never know what can happen. But she loves it. Diane credits her team for that love.
Anesthesiologists, nurses, technicians, and a surgeon are all in the operating room for each case. They’re on the team with Diane working for the common goal of the patient and getting them past the health crisis they’re in.
“It’s fascinating,” Diane says. “I just love it.”
She also loves being on call. She’s not called into every surgery. The perfusionists at Connect receive a schedule the night before the upcoming shift to see who has a case and who’s on call. Since a lot of heart surgeries are unplanned, she often gets called in. When you’re working with the heart, time is not on your side. Thankfully for Diane, she prefers it.
At 7 a.m. this morning, Diane was called in, and she rushed to the hospital.
“But when I was done,” she says. “I was done.”
She was done at 2 p.m. and had the rest of the day to do whatever she wanted. Thankfully for me, she wanted to sit down and talk. But on other days, she spends time with her family, spends time outside, or simply relaxes at home.
Diane loves the heart, and she loves being a Perfusionist. Without Connect Perfusion, she wouldn’t be pulsing with purpose.